Union Investment has sold the 636 Sixth Avenue retail property in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, New York, to a strategic investor at a profit.
The buyer intends to redesign the entire building including the offices on the upper floors and repurpose the space. The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Union Investment acquired the retail property, which offers total rental space of some 1,700 m2, in 2016 as part of a closed joint venture deal with Nuveen Real Estate (then TH Real Estate) for open-ended real estate fund Unilmmo: Global.
The transaction in the Prime Urban Retail category comprised four retail properties in the US and marked the Hamburg-based real estate investment manager’s entry into the US retail market. Since then, Union Investment has extended its retail portfolio through two further transactions in Chicago and New York.
'The investment environment in the US is currently very challenging when it comes to implementing complex transactions like this one. It can be counted as a major success that our US-based team achieved this exit together with our joint venture partner Nuveen, delivering positive benefits for our global fund,' said Adam Irányi, head of investment management global at Union Investment.
UniImmo: Global continues to hold a 49% stake in the three other retail properties acquired in the joint venture deal, which are located in prime retail hotspots in New York, San Francisco and Philadelphia.
'Going forward, we are planning to further expand our retail portfolio in the US with an emphasis on the high street and convenience retail segments. In the US, we are also focusing on the resilient logistics and multi-family asset classes,' said Matthew Scholl, head of investment management Americas at Union Investment.
